Toyota Planning Cabrio, Turbocharged and Sedan Versions of the GT 86

Toyota has been over the fence and back regarding its plans to build turbocharged, sedan and convertible versions of the GT 86. Last we heard, poor sales of the sports car scuttled those plans, but now it looks like they’re back on the table.

Motoring Australia is reporting that Toyota is once again hot on the idea of expanding its GT 86 lineup. While no specific plans for the car have been disclosed, there seems to be a growing sentiment within the company that poor sales notwithstanding, Toyota is finally ready to push all of its GT 86 chips in the middle of the table.

It’s a smart move to offer some diversity to the GT 86, which hasn’t earned the same level of sales respect and admiration as its twins, the Subaru BRZ and the Scion FR-S. A convertible version of the GT 86 was even previewed last year with the Open Top Concept so at the very least, we should now what to expect with a future top-down sports coupe.

As for the sedan version, Toyota has big plans for the four-door GT 86, including giving it a duo of engine options. The bid news is that there will be a turbocharged four-cylinder engine, which will likely be the Subaru’s 2.5-liter Direct Injection Turbo engine that’s good for more than 295 horsepower. The other engine for the sedan will likely be a hybrid Suby engine, but not the 160-horsepower one found in the XV Crosstrek — you may exhale now... Sources inside Subaru claim that the company is working on a hybrid unit that works with its direct-injected boxer engine.

Another objective for the GT 86 sedan is to have enough room to differentiate it from the coupe. Talks are already in place to make the GT 86 sedan 510 mm (20 inches) longer and 100 mm (3.9 inches) taller than the coupe model. Those are both pretty drastic expansions, so it’ll be interesting to see how the extra size affects the styling.

What’s more, the bad-add 2.5-liter DIT engine that the sedan will receive will also trickle down to the coupe model, according to the report.

The soft-top convertible GT 86, which will retain the current drivetrain, is set to arrive earlier than the sedan, possibly as soon as October 2014. The turbocharged sedan and coupe versions could arrive as early as 2016, and the hybrid model is rumored to arrive a few months later.

Click past the jump to read more about the GT 86.

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Why it Matters

Though this is supposedly a report from an "insider," we take this with a grain of salt. We’ve heard s much back and forth on all three models that we are now desensitized to the topic. If this plan takes hold, this would spin the GT 86 line into almost its own little sub-brand. The big thing is whether this will make it to the FR-S lineup as well? My assumption would be yes, because Scion is missing a sporty sedan and convertible in its lineup.

It took some time to see a production version of the Toyota GT 86, but when it finally happened, the world got its crack a a truly affordable rear-wheel-drive sports coupe.

The GT 86 was developed in cooperation with Subaru and is powered by a 2.0-liter, naturally-aspirated, flat-four engine that delivers a total of 200 horsepower at 7,000 rpm and 151 pound-feet of torque at 6,600 rpm. The engine can be mated to either a six-speed manual or a six-speed automatic transmission. The GT86 sprints from 0 to 60 mph in 6.2 seconds and up to a top speed of 140 mph.